


Former Garden

by primuswhore



Category: Political RPF - US 20th c., Political RPF - US 21st c.
Genre: 2000 United States Election, Arguing, Decision 2000, Gen, Unresolved Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-04
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-16 22:40:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29831988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/primuswhore/pseuds/primuswhore
Summary: The Inauguration of George W. Bush comes as a shock to everyone in the Clinton Administration. After hearing the news that he just lost, Al Gore (and George W. Bush) start to piece together as to why.
Kudos: 2





	Former Garden

**Author's Note:**

> Sort of based on a poem that I made up for school, and on an article that was in The Guardian about Decision 2000. It basically said that Gore's loss in 2000 could be attributed to Clinton's affair, which was a whole two years prior. Trust me, it sounds like something straight out of an angsty fan fic to begin with. To add insult to injury, I actually looked things up for this. And Jesus Christ this is long.

7 November 2000; Two hours, thirty six minutes and fourteen seconds after the polls in the few remaining states have closed.

What was even going on right now? Two people are head to head, both literally and figuratively, and to make matters worse, they're both running for president. Al Gore, and Herbert-Walker's half-assed demented son. Gore didn't win his home state. Embarrassing, considering how when campaigning for Clinton, Tennessee voted for him, twice. Al Gore was shuffling back and forth trying not to vomit on anyone. He was sat next to Tipper, his wife, or first lady-to-be, future former president Bill Clinton, and his future former first lady Hillary. He continually bounced his leg up and down to try and ease the stress. It didn't help. "How am I going to do this?" He thought, "Can Florida and Pennsylvania count their votes already?" It felt so bad. He should feel good about himself, he's in the lead for both states. "What even is the voting system anyway?" The internal thought was getting the best of him. Not to mention he was sweaty from running around all day, talking to an arsenal of reporters and general public, campaign people or not, and preparing speeches. Suddenly, there was a tap on his shoulder, he jumped. "Hey, didn't mean to scare you, you okay?" Bill asked putting his hand on his shoulder. " Yeah, I'm fine. Just excited, you know?" He responded, lying though his teeth. What was he supposed to say? Right then and there, he could faint, he has the option to faint, but if he does, it would send the entire campaign team awry. "

"Hold on, I'm going to the bathroom." He said getting up and swiftly leaving. Bill sat there, confused, he knew he was lying. He knew he isn't in his right state of mind. That wasn't Albert Gore Jr. He stood up and started cleaning up around the room. "Here." Tipper said doing the same. "I'll help you with some of this." Hillary did the same, it was getting late, but this is what the did every night. Start early, have an amateur or makeshift party around 2:30, campaign some, get people registered, then with the option of getting drunk, leave at around one in the morning. Today was sort of an "off" day. Tipper threw some things away before abruptly stopping. "Do you all think that Al is okay?" She sounded concerned. No one responded. "He doesn't look okay. Or sound okay. He's been sweating his ass off for the past two weeks about the election." Hillary continued with what she was doing whilst coming up with a response. "Don't worry, Bill was the same way in '92. He locked himself in the bathroom and stayed there for a while." she said wiping a table down. Bill held his hands up in response. Tipper shrugged and continued to clean, she had a question, but unfortunately, she didn't ask it. Too many painful memories and drama. Maybe it was for the better.

Al was still in the bathroom, by the time he got himself together, the newly established "clean-up crew" had finished their job and was ready to go. He walked out, wiping the last bit of sweat from his forehead. "You all done for the day?" He spoke trying to restore his normally collected personality. "Yep, just have to carry these boxes out to the car and we're good." Bill smiled. That may be Albert Gore Jr, at this point he was almost sure. He nodded, taking a box out of Hillary's arms and following Bill outside. The ladies bid one another farewell and did the same for the men. Bill, with the seconds he had left, tried to level with him. "You gonna be set for the night?" He asked setting one of the boxes in the trunk of his car. Al sat his box in and shut the trunk. "Yep, just another day of running for president. You don't usually have a best friend who runs for the highest position in the United States government." Bill chuckled, he was right, stuff like that was rare. "Alright, call if you need anything!" He said walking to the copious amounts of secret service members who escorted him into a limo. Even though he was still the vice president, he started limiting his time spent in limos and such with the president. It gave him peace of mind in a way.

Sleepless nights were one thing, but sitting up in the living room of your house watching election results when you're one of the candidates is top tier. It was 2 am, he needed to be up and ready to go in four to five hours. Tipper was up in the bedroom fast asleep. Good, he was having one of those moments where he was spiraling, and he could feel it. "Why is this taking so long?" He thought, staring mindlessly at the television. "Announce it already. Come on. Announce." He had a pen and notepad with multiple crumpled pieces of paper scattered all over the floor around him. Everything was a blur. It was from speech to television, copy the numbers, modify speech, television, flip to a new page so you can copy new numbers and inputs, flip back and copy the new numbers, television. Over and over and over again. During some intervals, he thought about what happened in 1998. It felt like he was intoxicated, and on speed, but he still thought about it. That stupid speech that was televised. the trial, the headlines and the tabloids. Everything. One thing is to cheat on your wife, another thing is to be the goddamn president, go on national television, and proceed to lie about it. The press even started to come after him and his wife. But this was an interval, only an interval, once the anchor appeared on the screen, he was sucked back in.

"Did I just win sunshine? I just won sunshine." He thought, swiftly before passing out.

8 December 2000

Why are they doing this, why right now? The Florida Supreme Court officially ordered a statewide recount. 61,000 ballots, that or even more. Will this ever end? Or are they out to get him. It feels as if that is the reason, but it isn't. Multiple news stations, mainly NBC, announced that Gore had won Florida's electoral votes, then a few hours later, they flipped the switch, saying Bush won. Then, moments later, it was announced that it was too close to call. How did this happen you might ask? They announced the first one a whole two hours before the polls in that state even closed. Yeah, weird stuff. Now Al Gore has to be face to face with his running mate, in court. The case name had a nice ring to it though, Bush v. Gore. He was seated in a car next to Bill, he wasn't required to attend, he just wanted to show support. "You're going to be fine, don't sweat it!" Bill reassured. "Have no clue why they're doing this, but it's all going to fly by." Al sat up, then looked at him. "As of right now, it has taken exactly thirty days for a decision to be made. And now, people may start to recount votes. Please elaborate on, "fly by", Bill." He responded, speaking mainly with his hands. "Bill he does have a point." Hillary spoke up. "We really wouldn't even be here right now if they would have just counted the votes and called it a day." Tipper said looking out of the dim window. She was right, the both of them were. 

They arrived at the courthouse, of course the media had been waiting for them, approaching the four of them as soon as they got out. Thank God for secret service. Walking in, all seemed well, you have all of the lawyers and even people from the campaign showed up. "Hello Albert, my gosh! You have gotten so much bigger the last time I saw you!" a voice said from behind. He cringed, visibly. It was George H. W Bush. Albert? In this day and age? Seriously? He didn't know of he was talking about his height, or his weight, either way it was a bullshit excuse for small talk. "Hi Mr. Bush, how are you?" He smiled, holding his hand out waiting for it to be shaken. Herbert-Walker looked him up and down, then shook his hand. "You ready for the trial? I hear Florida is at halt because of you and your cronies." Jesus Christ. Thank God he wasn't black, Herbert-Walker wouldn't be able to stand him. "Actually Mr. Bush, myself, nor anyone on my campaign is responsible for what CNN, NBC, and so on, projected last month. They just made a mistake." He explained, all while HW was looking ever so interested. "Yeah, sure." He mumbled. People started to gather in the courtroom. No sign of his son. Thank God, it's bad enough that this man has a son whom, for the most part, is just like him. Whilst walking in, another voice was heard. "Did they start yet? Ugh, hope we can get this over with in time." It was his son.

Fuck. Fuck! Holy fucking shit. 

Gore obviously wasn't that much of a swearer, but in his head, in the moment, he was. He turned his head to look, just as Bush was looking up at him. "Hey! How are you doing?" Bush said with a sneaky grin, hand out. "I'm well, how are you?" Gore responded, actually shaking his hand for once. Bush's grin grew wider at the question. "Oh I'm feeling just fine! I'm pretty sure I have this election in the bag. Or maybe even by a landslide!" He went on. Cocky bastard, absolute cocky bastard. "Oh really? Good for you George." He nodded turning back around and taking a seat in the room. You think you have this in the bag because you were the one who wanted the votes to be recounted. Of course with the help of your father. Even after the polls did close and were counted. He's such and inconsiderate asshole. Please let this fly by like Bill said. 

13 December 2000

Thirty five days. Now they're saying it's the longest time it has ever taken to declare a president. And it wasn't Gore. It almost was. He didn't win the sunshine state. It flipped at the last second, due to the recount. The news came quickly, but didn't reach Gore until he was in a meeting with the senate. The Secretary of State came in and handed him a small packet, with a sticky note on it. The note read, "BUSH WON...". The packet was more of the court documents showing that the Bush's basically won the case with statistics and stuff. Wow. Oh wow. Gore was horrified. You couldn't really see it, but his heart stopped momentarily, he was about to vomit. The topic in the meeting had shifted, back to the results of the election. "And I believe Vice President Gore has just received the results of the election, would you stand and read them Mr. Vice President." One said. He put the sticky note down, stood up with his hand on the paper, and spoke. "Yes, I have just learned the results of the election. George W. Bush won the state of Florida, thus winning the presidency." A few people in the room clapped, this is excruciating. "I would of course, like to congratulate Mr. Bush, or, President-Elect Bush, on his win, and I will be giving my concession speech later today." He nodded and sat down. This hurts, very bad. He didn't win his home state, then on top of that, he won Florida at first, then it flipped. He did win the popular vote, he was in a 500,000 vote lead over Bush. The Electoral College votes say otherwise. That's democracy for you.

He wrote his own concession speech, or at least he was in the process of writing it. Back in the White House for once, he needed to enjoy this while he has time to. Clinton stood at the door for a while, unbeknownst to Gore. He knocked, walking in. "Hey." He said with his hands in his pockets. "Hey, what's going on?" The younger man asked while still scribbling down notes. Clinton looked around, then shut the door behind him. "I'm sorry about this whole election thing. You really do deserve to be the president." He went on. "Thanks, we did everything that we could. Plus, I'm happy for Bush, we might be from differing parties, but the sky's the limit for him. He has high hopes for the country." Gore explained. This is funny. He's saying this about a racists asshole son. "Al Gore. Something positive to say about anything." Bill chuckled, shaking his head. Clinton opened the door, about to leave. "Just call if you need anything." He exited. Clinton walked down the hall, passing someone along the way. It would have been helpful if he would have saw who it was.

Gore walked to the bathroom to practice his concession speech, he does this for all of the speeches that he writes, to at least get a better hold of himself. He shuffled the pages back and forth while pacing, then someone else walked in. "Hey, how are you?" Gore asked, not looking up. "I'm doing great, you?" The voice responded. "Fine just fi-" He just so happened to look up, my God. "How's the losers speech treatin' ya?" Bush sneered. It was his dumbass motherfucking son. "Why are you here? Shouldn't you be with your family or your campaign team or something?" Gore angerly protested. He set the notes down and continued. "Look, I'm happy for you, really! Bill and I were just talking about you." Bush cocked his head, grinning again. "Oh really? Aww, that's sweet. Read the speech out real fast." Gore was blank-faced, possibly zoned out. "What?" He looked around. "You heard me, Mr. "I Can't Win My Home State" Read what's on the paper." Gore sighed, picking up the papers and began to read aloud. "I would like to congratulate George Bush on his victory, I will be looking forward to your endeavors and your administration. I also want to thank my wife, Tipper, Bill and Hillary Clinton, and my entire campaign team. We may not have won, but we've gained an amazing experience from the past month alone. Thank you all for giving me a chance." Bush listened on with a mocking smile. He could practically get off to him reading that. This guy is really a sick dude. "Oh wow. Sounds good Albert, but you want to thank Bill? Bill Clinton of all people?" Gore furrowed his brows at the question. Bush sighed and rolled his eyes. "What are you talking about?" Gore asked setting the papers down once more. He crossed his arms, just like at that debate between the two of them. "Do you really not know what I'm talking about?" He questioned, now pacing back and forth like some movie villain. Gore took a few seconds to think, staying silent. One idea came up though. "Bill hasn't done anything, besides the affa-" He stopped, realizing what he just said. Bush's eyes went wide as he let out an over exaggerated gasp, throwing his hands to his face. "My God Albert. Spot on!" He grinned. "What does the affair have to do with me? I was only his vice president, and I didn't defend him." He listed. Bush turned around, eyes still wide, then popped the question. 

"Did he do the same for you?"

They jogged together, they had a bond. Their wives were best friends, their children hung out together. The two started to look alike because they hung out so much. Some of the press even started to get their names mixed up. When the affair happened, everyone was disappointed. Gore was the only one that wasn't too slandered that could have done something, so he tried fixing it as best as he could, by getting Bill in check. Gore took a step back and still stayed silent. He started to shake his head, much to Bush's enjoyment. "Oh yeah, yeah. Face it Albert. Bill had the authority, the power to go out and get the press away from you when they came after you and your wife. But no, he left you to rot! He left you to die out there! Who was the one who had to stand outside and answer questions about it?" Gore looked up at him. "I did." He muttered. "Who was the one who had to get heckled by the press about an affair he didn't even have?" Bush asked again. "I did." Gore responded once more. "But that isn't even half of it Gore, you see, when the shit hit the fan, the Republicans used that against him. You were his vice president, his right hand man right? They saw that you were running for president, so what did they do?" Gore's eyes widened, he moved his hand away from his face at the realization. He made him loose. Bill, made him loose. It's because of Bill that he isn't celebrating his victory. If he would have just kept his dick in his pants, he would have been president. He was right. Bush was right. "Yeah, they made you loose Albert! Not me though, I was only a governor when this was going on." Gore stood in silence while Bush spoke, what else could he do? Go confront Clinton, right now. "He turned his back on you, and you didn't even realize it." Bush continued. Gore picked up the papers, folded them, and shoved them into his blazer pocket, and made his way out the door and down the hall. "Where are you going?" Bush said leaning from the doorway. "Nowhere, and my name is Al dumbass." He said still walking. "Hmm. He finally grew a pair." Bush thought.

For once in his life, he was pissed, genuinely pissed. How was he so oblivious! He started to run throughout the White House halls, until he made it to the Oval Office. Not that many people have access to the room, Al's access made him lucky this time. He barged in, obviously startling Bill, who was filling out papers and such. "Hey, y'know you could've knocked." He said setting his pen down. "Don't even start that Bill." Gore held his hand up. "What the hell! What the actual hell!" Bill sighed. "Yeah, I know, those votes are bogus, it shouldn't have taken that long." Gore stopped to take a second to calm down, he didn't want to scream or else people would hear, then try to get involved. "I was wondering when you would come around and let your anger out." Gore took a moment once again. Now Bill's the oblivious one. "Okay, I want to keep this short. How could you? Really! How could you!" He began. Bill sat up, is this Albert A. Gore Jr? Yelling at him? This was new. "How could I what? What are you even talking about?" The president questioned, now sitting up. "I know what the fuck you did. The whole affair, everything. This is all your fault!" Gore yelled. Bill stood up, now almost as infuriated as Al. "Didn't we already go over this? I apologized and I have owned up to my mistakes. I apologized to Ms. Lewinski, and her family! This is behind me!" He explained. Gore shook his head. "Oh, it may be for you but it isn't for me." Bill came from around the desk and started to interrogate. "What the hell are you talking about? What the hell did you do?" Gore now had an insane look on his face. How could he even say this right now? How could he? "What did I do? This is all because of you! I lost the election because of you!" Bill rolled his eyes at the fact. "Oh please, you lost because of the recount and the electoral votes. Who are you even getting this from?" Gore turned, still with that same expression. "Oh you wouldn't believe it, I got it from Walker." Bill folded his arms. "Who the hell is Walker?" "The daddy's boy, Walker Bush." Bill's face fell. What the hell? That's kind of low. "What? You've been talking to that piece of shit? Do you know that he's fucking stupid?" Gore rolled his eyes. "Oh, but this time he brought up reasons. He came with receipts for once!" Bill sighed and sat on his desk, not saying a word. Gore persisted. "You left me to fucking die in '98! You made me look stupid and left me to clean up the shit you did! You didn't even bother to defend me, nor my wife when the press started to come after us! We had nothing to do with that! I had nothing to do with that!" Gore was tearing up, first he was yelling and swearing, now he's about to cry in front of the president. He didn't care, it was worth it. "How do you know?" Bill asked, looking up at him. "Tell me, aside from what Bush said. How do you know." What? Gore was mortified. He took another deep breath. "You want to know how I know, huh?" He almost started to laugh. Bill sighed "No, tell me? You seem to be all high and fucking mighty so tell me! Explain!" He snapped, right then and there. "SHUT THE FUCK UP! If you aren't too stupid to realize, this country is ran by republicans! When you had your affair, they jumped at the chance to used that against you! Do you really not see that! You couldn't keep your dick in your pants, and now I am the one that gets blasted for it!" He screamed. His tears finally fell. He was crying. "I had a chance at something and you took it from me! Do you know how much that hurts!" Bill walked forward, trying to console the grieving man, but he turned the other way. "You stabbed me in the back. You of all people. I don't even know what to say at this point." Bill just sat there and looked at him. He couldn't relate, he was the one who caused this. He thought it was just Hillary, but it ended up being one of his best friends.

"Wait." Bill finally spoke. Gore still had his back towards him. "I only have one question." Gore stayed silent. "Are you going to the inauguration?" Gore sighed and walked towards the door. Bill held his head down. Gore finally turned, Bill raised his head, only to see him in pain. He had never seen Gore like this before. He uttered two words. "Fuck no." He said slamming the door on his way out.

20 January 2001

As usual, hundreds of people gathered where they could near the Washington Monument in order to get any glimpse at all from the inauguration. Gore wasn't seen, his wife was there, but not him. Bill shouldn't have gotten his hopes up. What happened a month ago, it actually resonated with him. Gore showed genuine emotion, that was the first time he ever moved away from his easy going tone, and actually swore at the president. He knows why. He wanted to apologize to him right then and there. It should be him on the podium, It should be his wife holding the bible, and his right hand in the air taking the oath, not Bush. "I thank president Clinton for his service to our nation." Bush spoke at the podium. Bill smiled and nodded. People cheered. Bill's vision must have been going through it, because when he looked over again, there was Gore. He was there? He had every reason not to go. He looked on as Bush spoke about his future of the country under his administration, he seemed to be doing okay. Then, the moment of truth, the oath of office. Bush delivered it, the cannons fired, and "Hail to the Chief" began to play as soon as he was done. People Bush began to shake hands with the people around him, Bill being one of the first. Then Gore. During the month of their silence, from both Bush and Clinton, the tension wasn't as apparent as it was before. Bill watched as Bush shook Gore's hand, Gore mouthed, "Congratulations", with a smile. Maybe they got along. Fucking George Bush. After everything had been cleared out, the now former president was escorted from the capital, with the now former vice president having the same treatment. Separate cars, Bill needed to get used to that. Gore went back to Tennessee, and Bill went back to Arkansas, now there was no way to settle things. Wait. The phone. 

Bill dialed the number and waited a few seconds before someone picked up. "Hello?" the voice said. "Hey, Hi. Can I speak to Al?" He asked nervously. The voice laughed a bit. "Wow, I was your vice president for eight years, you're already forgetting my voice?" Gore chuckled. Bill did the same. "Heh, you have a point. So how are you, how's the family?" Gore took a breath. "Oh we're all doing fine, wife's great, the kids are great, we're all doing well. What about you?" Bill sighed. "Everything's well here, not that much has happened since we've came back." There was a long silence, it felt like hours. Bill wanted to say so much, this was the only reason why he was calling him. "Well I have to get back to fixing the roof, the wires in that hole won't stay in." Gore said. "Al wait. Hold on. Look, I am entirely in the wrong, and I'm very sorry about how the election turned out. I shouldn't have cheated, not only did I cheat on my wife, but I also cheated you. I didn't take time to realize how that effected my friends and my work. You're one of the best friends I'd ever had, and like you said, I stabbed you in the back. I would have apologized to you while we were still in the White House, but I didn't know what to say. So, I'm doing it now. Al, I apologize. I hope we can talk more, you're missed around here man." There was another long pause. "Wow, you really must have thought that through. Sounds like you grew up!" Bill laughed. "Says the guy who's younger than me." They both shared a laugh. "No, in all seriousness, that's very mature of you. I do think we should talk more, come visit sometime, we're not that fare from where you are." Bill was ecstatic, he got his friend back. "The senate probably wasn't ready for me anyway, they think I'm a dork." Gore said with a chuckle. "A dork with good intentions! If you and Tipper weren't together, you'd be married to the environment." Bill said. They both laughed, because it was true. "Thanks, that's a funny joke." There was another pause. "Look, I actually have to get back to fixing the hole on my house, but please, call sometime!" Gore said. "Okay! I will, don't die trying to fix your house." Bill joked. Gore laughed. "I won't, talk to you later Bill. "Alright, talk to you soon." They both hung up, a weight being lifted off of the both of them.

But they would do just that. The next month, Bill jumped at the chance to visit Al at his Tennessee home, randomly showing up at his door and scaring the shit out of Al when he opened the door. They talked about what happened in January, and officially made up. Al did the same and went to Arkansas where they pretty much did the same thing. The former president got his vice president back. However, one motto was established between the two:

"Fuck Herbert-Walker, and his dumbass motherfucking son."


End file.
